


Rescue

by Arlothia



Series: Whump Advent Calendar 2020 [4]
Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: ...so far ;), Awakening, Carrying, Child in Peril, Fever, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Near Drowning, Rescue, Shivering, Slipping, Unconscious, Whump, baka deshi, based with the movies in mind, because it's Hiko, because that's all I've ever seen of RK, but there's an underlying tenderness there, coarse caretaker, concerned friend, falling, h/c, shaking, sweating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28043379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arlothia/pseuds/Arlothia
Summary: Himura Kenshin is a clumsy baka deshi and ends up falling through the ice. It's a good thing his shishou is there...
Series: Whump Advent Calendar 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040722
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Whump Advent Calendar #4: Break the Ice  
> MY FIRST JDRAMA FIC!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> A million thanks to the wonderful Teej for helping me with this as she's much more familiar with the fandom than I am!

(Image credit goes to [blaiddydda](https://blaiddydda.tumblr.com/post/117017087683/hiko-seijuro-in-kyoto-inferno-the-legend-ends) and [heckyeahruroken](https://arlothia.tumblr.com/post/637368568686739456/heckyeahruroken-rurouni-kenshin-parallels-in) [inactive tumblr blog] respectively)

Kenshin wobbled, trying to balance the massive pile of sticks in his arms to keep them from falling.

And failing.

The ground dipped unexpectedly under his feet and the young boy faltered, tumbling to the ground and spilling the kindling he had gathered. As he massaged his twisted ankle, he groaned as he spied most of the wood had skittered out across the ice of the frozen pond. He’d already spent a long time gathering the sticks in the first place. His shishou would be angry if he was gone for too much longer.

 _It shouldn’t take me too long,_ he thought to himself, standing up and testing his ankle. _They’re all still right here. I don’t have to go hunting for them, just pick them up._

And besides, the pond was frozen solid and had been for weeks in this harsh winter. With his small frame, it should support him easily.

So Kenshin set to work gathering the sticks that had rolled out across the pond, more than once slipping upon the icy surface and falling to his knees, his side, but mostly his behind. He was sure he would be covered with bruises by the time he was done.

Finally, _finally,_ he picked up the last stick and started to walk back to the shore...only to have one of the sticks drop after the first few steps.

Kenshin groaned again, adjusting his grip on the bundle he held in his arms and squatted down to reach the escaped piece of wood.

Almost there...almost…

His ankle suddenly gave way and Kenshin felt his feet fly out from underneath him, the pile of kindling thrown into the air just as he came crashing down upon the ice.

_Crack! Crackcrackcrack!_

The sound resonated from where he landed, lines extending out in all directions. Kenshin didn’t move, hardly dared to breath. He started shaking, but even that slight movement made more cracking sounds deep within the ice.

“Sh-sh-shishou…” Kenshin’s voice quivered, speaking barely over a whisper. He swallowed, taking a deep breath. “Shishou! Help me! Shishou!”

He kept calling, but would his master hear him? Would he even come? He always wanted him to do things himself; he wouldn’t do anything until Kenshin did all he could. So he slowly, carefully, started inching his way forward and away from the cracks that were continuing to spread. 

Kenshin was still so far from the shore, but as he crawled closer and closer to it, he got further and further from the worst of the cracks. He could do this! He was going to make it! With growing confidence, he rose up onto his feet, lightly stepping across the frozen pond, his legs straining with the effort to not slip again.

His foot bumped one of the sticks he had dropped and he glanced behind him to look at the rest of them, scattered over the frozen water. However would he be able to collect those without falling through the ice? 

Kenshin was still looking back, thinking about what he was going to do, when his foot found that stick again - the hard way.

He gave a terrified shout as it rolled under his foot, sending him once more crashing down, the ice breaking beneath him and plunging him into the freezing water.

* * *

“Shishou! Help me! Shishou!”

Hiko Seijuro sighed, his breath fogging in the mid-morning air, and stood up from where he’d been picking up the logs he’d just split. What was it now? Did the boy gather too many sticks and need his help carrying them back? Again? He truly was a baka deshi. But he didn’t sound like he was in too much trouble, judging by his voice, so he could handle whatever it was on his own.

The lad grew quiet after a moment. Hiko smirked. Perhaps he’d finally learned that multiple trips were better.

Shaking his head, Hiko placed another log on it’s end and was about to swing his axe when the boy shouted again.

He stopped. Something was wrong. That wasn’t the yelp of a foolish boy, but a wordless cry of terror from a child who needed help.

Hiko gripped his axe and rushed towards the source of the yell. It was the deep of winter and there was no shortage of animals that would look at the scrawny lad as a welcome snack.

As he ran, he began to hear splashing and desperate grunts and whimpers coming from the pond. Hiko sighed again. Baka deshi...

Hiko emerged from the trees to see Kenshin a few meters from the edge of the pond, the bottom half of his body submerged in the dark waters while his hands scrambled desperately at the ice, trying to gain purchase on the slick surface.

Stepping up to the edge of the ice, Hiko stood there, arms folded, watching Kenshin struggle to get out of the water.

“Shishou!” the lad shouted as he saw him. “Help me!”

“You are still capable of saving yourself,” Hiko responded. “You will not always have someone there to rescue you, baka deshi. Grabbing at the ice like that obviously isn’t working. Think. What else can you do?”

He watched as the shivering boy continued to scramble, as if disregarding Hiko’s advice. But then he saw Kenshin trying to shift his body to the side. One of his feet broke the surface for a moment before it splashed back down. He tried that a few more times, but to no avail.

“Shishou! Please!”

But Hiko simply set his axe aside and went to collect the sticks Kenshin had dropped earlier. He noticed there were many more of them out on the ice, some of which were near enough for the boy to grab.

The older man’s lip quirked slightly upwards when he saw Kenshin grab one of the sticks. He was impressed by how quickly his student had picked up on the hint. But of course, the boy was _his_ student after all. Obviously Hiko’s training had improved the former slave even in the short time he had taken him on as a student. But he was still a baka deshi.

Kenshin proceeded to stab at the ice, trying to create handholds to pull himself up. He worked furiously, sounds of frustration and exertion escaping from his chattering teeth. But soon his movements slowed, his shaking arms making it difficult to keep hold on the stick. 

Raising his hand high in the air, Kenshin brought the stick down in one great swing, a shout of defiance echoing through the trees as the stick finally pierced the ice.

Hiko gave a nod as Kenshin weakly tried to pull himself up, but he could see there was very little strength left in him. His whole body must have been numb by now as the water leeched every bit of warmth from the boy. He wouldn’t be able to make it up on his own.

But just as Hiko started making his way towards him, there was a dull _crack_ and suddenly the boy was gone, disappearing under the water.

The ice around the stick had broken, completely shearing off the ledge Kenshin had been using to keep himself afloat. He hadn’t even cried out in alarm, simply going under with barely a splash.

Hiko grabbed his axe and rushed forward onto the ice, heedless of how it objected to the sudden burden as he gazed down, trying to find the boy.

There! Under the ice, a meter or so past where Kenshin had gone down, Hiko spied something drifting sluggishly, but unmoving. He stepped closer and brought the eye of the axe straight down near that form, his weight breaking the ice underneath him.

The pond was shallower here, so the bitterly cold water only came to his waist, but it didn’t seem to even bother Hiko as he plunged his hand in and grabbed Kenshin by his collar. He hauled him up onto his shoulder and waded back to shore, breaking the ice with his axe as he went.

When he finally stepped onto dry land, Hiko slid Kenshin off his shoulder and onto the ground none too gently before proceeding to wring the water out of his drenched clothes.

“The next time you decide to do something so idiotic, baka deshi,” he said, his back to the young boy, “don’t keep trying to get out of it with something that’s not working. You were never going to get out of the water scrambling like that. It won’t do you any good trying the same useless thing over and over. If you can’t think fast enough in a dire situation, then there’s really no point in training you since you’ll die the second I’m not around.”

Hiko waited for the boy to apologize or offer a properly chastened word of acknowledgement, but he heard nothing. There was no sound behind him whatsoever.

Turning around, Hiko looked down at his diminutive apprentice. He was pale, soaking wet, and completely still. He wasn’t even shivering, not even... Hiko swiftly knelt by the boy’s side and laid a hand on his chest, noting his blue lips. Not even breathing. But he felt a slight flutter under his fingers, confirmation that the boy wasn’t dead yet.

Placing his hand slightly lower, Hiko gave a single firm, upward shove and instantly a fountain of water exploded from Kenshin’s mouth.

The boy’s eyes flew open and his weak body immediately curled in on itself, his lungs fighting between their need to cough out the remaining water and to suck in as much air as they could. Kenshin shook so violently that Hiko had to place a foot beside him so he didn’t slide on the slippery rocks back towards the water.

 _That’s more like it,_ Hiko thought, watching Kenshin wrestle his breathing under control, gripping the stick he still held in his hand as if it were his only lifeline. For however useless this boy was, he always got back up, always scrambled for any available foothold life offered him. Since the day Hiko met him, Kenshin always fought for his life. Perhaps in time he’d learn the Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki, but he still had a long way to go.

Once the coughing stopped and Kenshin’s breathing became steady, Hiko draped his winter coat over him and scooped the trembling boy into his arms, stick and all, placing one arm under his knees and the other behind his back.

“Sh-shishou?” The whispered word was hoarse and raspy and so, so small.

“Consider yourself lucky that I came to help you,” Hiko replied as he started to carry Kenshin back towards the house. “No one else would have been fast or strong enough to get you out of that watery grave.”

Kenshin gave no reply. He simply closed his eyes and huddled closer to Hiko, greedily seeking any warmth he could find.

Hiko shook his head.

“Baka deshi.”

* * *

Hiko laid Kenshin down onto the floor by the fire, much gentler than he had before. He quickly stripped the boy of his soaking clothes and wrapped him with the thickest fur blanket he had. Kenshin hadn’t stopped shivering all the way back and his body was still wracked with tremors. 

The fire was barely smoldering, the coals not giving off much heat. Hiko reached over to where he stored his firewood and placed some small logs on the embers, blowing on them to make them catch the flame faster. But he knew he didn’t have enough readily on hand to keep the fire going for as long and as hot as he knew he’d need it.

“Don’t die before I get back,” he told the unconscious boy. As expected, Kenshin gave no response, simply continuing to huddle underneath the blanket and curl towards the fire.

Hiko gathered the wood he had been splitting outside and walked to the shed, placing the pieces on a rack to dry and grabbing an armful of wood from another pile that had cured over the summer. 

When he returned inside, he noticed with some alarm that Kenshin had beads of sweat on his brow – though the room was not much warmer then when he’d left – and his face appeared even more pale than it had when he’d first rescued his apprentice. And he still hadn’t stopped shaking. 

A fever. The boy’s body was trying to warm itself up in all the wrong ways.

“Baka deshi,” Hiko murmured as he set the wood aside. Though the room was still slightly cool, the older man couldn’t risk raising the temperature. Making the boy too warm would be just as dangerous as the freezing water.

Once more, Hiko lifted the boy into his arms and carried him to the raised floor where they slept, far enough from the fire to prevent him from overheating. He kept the blanket on him, though. It wouldn’t do to plunge the lad into hypothermia again.

After ladling some water into a bowl, Hiko climbed up onto the floor and propped Kenshin up against his raised knee, bringing the bowl to the boy’s mouth and dribbling in a small stream of water.

Almost instantly, Kenshin sputtered and jerked awake, his fevered eyes wild and his breathing quick and shallow. He grabbed at Hiko’s arm, clutching it with a vice-like grip, his fingers shaking so hard the water in the bowl started to slosh over the edge.

“Calm down, boy. You’re not drowning anymore. Drink this,” Hiko instructed, removing Kenshin’s hand from his arm and placing the bowl back to his mouth. 

He drank it without any incident and slumped against Hiko’s leg, eyes sliding shut. His shivering had finally started to subside.

Hiko lowered Kenshin down to the floor and placed the back of his fingers on the boy’s forehead. His fever still raged.

With a sigh, Hiko soaked a piece of cloth in a jug of water and wrung it out before placing it on Kenshin’s brow. There was little else he could do for the boy now, so he changed into some dry clothes, hanging his and Kenshin’s wet things by the fire, and went back outside to continue splitting wood.

* * *

It was late in the evening, and Hiko was just finishing off a bowl of sake when he heard it.

“Oro?”

It was soft and mumbled and the first thing Kenshin had said for over twelve hours.

“Your clothes are next to you,” Hiko said, pouring himself another bowl of sake. There was a rustle of fur and he looked over to see Kenshin trying to sit up. It took him almost a full minute to get up on one elbow. 

“What happened?” the boy asked, his voice small and frail. His fever had broken only a short time before and his body was still weak.

Hiko downed his sake in one gulp. “You fell into the pond, baka deshi, and I had to fish you out. You still haven’t learned the simple lessons I’ve taught you: think before you act and don’t do useless things. Since you are incapable of listening to me, perhaps these consequences will finally teach you.”

“You saved me?”

“This time.” He pinned the boy with a stare that said he might not be so lucky if he continued to be this stupid. 

Kenshin inclined his head slightly towards the older man. “Thank you, shishou.”

Hiko huffed a laugh. “You can thank me by not doing something that stupid again.”

A shiver ran through Kenshin’s body and he reached out to grab his dried clothes. As he began dressing himself, he tried to keep the warm blanket around his shoulders, but only succeeded in tangling himself up and falling to the floor with a _thud_ and a sharp cry of pain. 

Hiko rolled his eyes and sighed, pouring himself another bowl of sake. What had he done to be cursed with such a baka deshi?

Kenshin pulled something out from within the blanket and held it up. In the dim light, Hiko could just make out the form of a broken stick, the one the boy had been holding onto ever since he’d submerged under the ice. A distant look crossed over his face, as if he were trying to remember something. Then suddenly he looked over at Hiko, wincing.

“I dropped all the kindling you sent me to collect, and now it’s all wet. I’m sorry, shishou. I’ll go and bring them back so they can dry.”

Kenshin started to untangle himself, wrapping his haphazard clothes around his body, and attempted to get to his feet. But Hiko was there a moment later, firmly pushing him back to the floor. He grabbed the stick from the boy’s hand and tossed it into the fire.

“You can’t even dress yourself right now! What on earth makes you think you are in any condition to go out and collect sticks in the middle of the night? Did you not hear a word I just said about not being stupid? Baka deshi!” The phrase was fast becoming a curse Hiko used to vent all of his frustration surrounding the young boy.

He stepped down to the pot hanging over the simmering fire and filled a bowl with the soup he had made for that evening’s meal.

“The only thing you’d achieve out there is getting into more trouble and making me come and rescue you again, _if_ I decided to waste my time on that.” Hiko placed the bowl and a spoon on the floor next to Kenshin before going back to his sake. “Now eat that and go back to sleep. You can finish your work in the morning.”

“Yes, shishou.”

Kenshin scooted over, the blanket still wrapped around him. He brought the bowl to his mouth and began eating ravenously, not even bothering with the spoon. After getting himself another bowl and downing that just as quickly as the first, the boy crawled back and laid down. He pulled the blanket up under his chin and closed his eyes.

“Goodnight, shishou.”

Hiko glanced over at the boy. His face was relaxed and his breathing was deep and even. He’d fallen asleep instantly.

The corner of his lip quirked up slightly as he lifted his bowl of sake to his lips.

“Goodnight. Baka deshi.”


End file.
